Re the inverter at the watermill I was thinking much the same as IO540, having some experience and insight in electronics. But I knew I could count on him to word it better than I ever could.
As for the sale of the engine makers: yes the Chinese have vast amounts of money to invest, and seem to be wiser at it than certain petroleum sheiks. From AvWeb discussion I understand that in this particular case the owner was particularly happy to sell, the company/product being neither very profitable nor a good fit to their other businesses.
And I also believe Lycoming and Continental would stand stronger today if they had invested in product innovation. OTOH I think they must have done some of their marketing homework, and probably found the market/demand too small to justify major investment. Those companies that DID bring state of the art engines for G/A did not really make brilliant successes, after all.